Sodalis

Chapter 22

Over a week into his stay at Grimmauld Place, Draco felt like he had finally been accepted. While the main Golden Trio had begrudgingly befriended him after his return to school, the other Weasley's had been reticent. Having Ginny on his side ready to berate her older brother's had been a boon he had not appreciated until the twins had taken it upon themselves to use him as a guinea pig for their new joke products. But the turning of the tides occurred Christmas Eve as the Order gathered around for a meeting.

It was just as the Order meeting adjourned that the summoning tore through Draco.

His mark burned like white hot fire and only increased as he ignored the summons. There in the Grimmauld Place kitchen, with the Order as the audience, he dropped to his knees clutching his Dark Mark. His godfather had appeared at his side in moments, forcing potions down his throat while his mother brushed his hair out of his face and urged him to lay back. It went on for 10 long arduous minutes as he writhed in pain, jerked, and cried out. Then it was over.

"Does that happen every time?" The hesitant voice of Ronald Weasley spoke somewhere to his left.

"Resisting the summoning of the Dark Lord is not an easy task, Mister Weasley. He only manages the pain with the potion I created," The rumbling voice of his godfather replied somewhere above him.

"Give 'em space, Ron. Professor, we should take him up to his room," Ginevra. He would have made a suggestive comment about her being in his rooms just to rile her up if he had the strength. Draco felt the familiar weightlessness of levitation as he drifted into unconsciousness.

The rest of that night was surprising. He had awoken a couple hours later to the doting of not only his mother but of Molly Weasley and Professor McGonagall. It took his godfather barging into the room and reminding the other woman that he was fine and would be back downstairs momentarily to get them to leave.

"I don't think the Gryffindors appreciated my theatrics," Draco grimaced as he sat up in his bed and put his feet on the ground.

"Do not downplay your pain, Draco. Few people have ever declined a summons and even less could imagine the type of suffering it brings," Snape responded, eyeing him. "How are you feeling? He will try to summon you again so I expect you to take that potion every 3 hours. It should make the pain more bearable."

"Is it bad that I'm kind of getting used to it?" Draco winced, hating how pathetic he sounded.

"Sad. It is sad that you are used to it. The youth should never have been dragged into this war," When he looked up he saw a troubled look on his godfather's face.

"I don't want to go back downstairs," Draco looked away, suddenly feeling ashamed.

His godfather sighed and then sat down next to him, "Draco, there is nothing to be ashamed of. You were forced into taking the mark and you're handling the consequences."

"I don't want their pity," He looked down at the ground with his brow furrowed.

"While I understand the sentiment, I think you've actually gained their trust and even their admiration," He sounded amused. Draco was reminded once again that his surly godfather had loosened up since the whole ritual situation. They sat silently for a while. He knew that his godfather was waiting until he was ready to go downstairs. Looking down at the mark again, he glanced over to Snape's bare forearm. Ever since the news of the ritual was shared and what it had done Draco found that his godfather would spend most of his time without the overbearing layers.

"Do you think you'll actually be able to do it? Remove the mark?" He asked tentatively.

Snape turned to him and nodded, "Hermione gave us her journals and your mother and I have been able to piece some things together. I'm confident we can do this. Whether it's before this war ends is the true mystery."